China’s C919 Aircraft Set to Make Commercial Debut

After receiving its first domestically produced C919 plane on the finish of final yr, China Eastern Airlines’ C919 is lastly set to make its business maiden flight. This info was confirmed at present by way of the airline’s app, which displayed flight MU9191, scheduled to function the Beijing-Shanghai route on May twenty eighth.

The C919, a big passenger plane, is the product of China’s impartial analysis and improvement, in accordance with worldwide civil aviation laws. With a seating capability of 158-168 and a variety of 4075-5555 kilometers, it showcases China’s aviation prowess. China Eastern Airlines grew to become the primary world consumer of the C919, after formally signing a purchase order settlement for 5 C919 plane with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) in March 2021. The first C919 was delivered to the airline on the finish of 2022.

According to journalists, the C919 started a sequence of intensive validation flights from Shanghai final week. Its itinerary spanned Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Taiyuan, amongst different places, to simulate full passenger processes in preparation for business operations. Prior to this, the C919 had already accomplished 100 hours of validation flights, with whole flight time tremendously exceeding 100 hours since its supply on December ninth.

The first C919 of China Eastern Airlines boasts a two-cabin format, accommodating 164 seats, together with eight enterprise class and 156 economic system class seats. These seats had been independently developed as a part of the brand new era of home cabin seats. After May twenty eighth, flights operated by the C919 can even enter China Eastern Airlines’ gross sales system, with the plane set to fly routes akin to Shanghai to Chengdu Tianfu. The airline plans to introduce the C919 into high-quality boutique routes, together with Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Kunming, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and others, permitting passengers to expertise the home giant plane on these routes first-hand.

According to China Eastern Airlines’ annual report, the airline is ready to obtain 4 C919 plane in 2023.

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In addition to China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines Group additionally signed an settlement on the finish of April this yr with COMAC in Shanghai to buy 100 plane. The settlement contains 60 confirmed orders for the C919 and 40 supposed orders for the ARJ21 plane. Other airways and leasing corporations have additionally confirmed orders, which means the supply tempo of the C919 will speed up. However, a COMAC consultant said that any new plane’s supply tempo would progressively shift from small batches to bigger ones, suggesting that the C919’s preliminary supply quantity wouldn’t be in depth. For occasion, if ten plane are delivered within the first yr, the quantity would progressively improve in subsequent years.

The supply of the domestically produced C919 signifies the introduction of a 3rd competitor to the narrow-body passenger plane market, at the moment shared by Boeing and Airbus. COMAC’s newest market forecast report (2022-2041) revealed that China’s aviation market will obtain 9,284 jet passenger plane over the following 20 years, together with 958 regional plane, 6,288 single-aisle plane, and a couple of,038 twin-aisle plane. By 2041, China’s fleet will attain 10,007 plane, accounting for 21.1% of the worldwide passenger fleet, making China’s aviation market the biggest single aviation market worldwide.

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